Pedro Callol

Callol, Coca & Asociados (Madrid)

Founding Partner

Pedro is a dual qualified (Spain and England and Wales) lawyer with twenty years of specialist antitrust, trade regulation and transactional experience. Previously (2008-2014) a corporate partner leading the EU & competition practice of one of Spain’s larger law firms. Before that (2002-2008) he created and led the EU & competition practice of a London magic circle law firm in Spain. Prior to that he worked with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. and London (1999-2002), and before that he trained with some of Spain’s best practitioners in Madrid and Brussels. Law Degree Universidad Complutense and Business degree San Pablo University (Madrid). Law graduate, University of Chicago Law School (Fulbright – Banco Santander scholar). Master in European law, College of Europe, Bruges (sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs). He is author of several specialist publications and is the Spanish correspondent of the European Competition Law Review. Board Member of the Fulbright Alumni Association in Spain and Secretary of the Board of University of the Chicago Alumni Association of Spain. Member of the Advisory Board of the American Antitrust Institute in Washington, DC. He reads specialist seminars in the Carlos III and San Pablo Law Schools and regularly speaks on other academic and business venues including the ABA, IBA and UIA.

The rapid spread of Covid-19 has led to its consideration as a global pandemic. Spain, currently at the epicenter of the crisis, has declared the state of alarm last Sunday.
To ease the effects of the Covid-19 crisis in the economy, the Spanish Government approved yesterday Royal Decree-Law (...)

Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of 17 March, of urgent exceptional measures to face the social and economic impact of COVID-19 (RDL 8/2020), put in place ad hoc public spending, employment measures and set up a new foreign direct investment (FDI) regime applicable to critical infrastructures, (...)

On 6 September 2019, the CNMC has initiated proceedings against NUFRI for having closed the acquisition of Grupo IDULLEIDA before gaining merger clearance.
On 11 July 2019, the CNMC cleared in first phase the transaction which had been notified on 21 June 2019. However, the CNMC has initiated (...)

On 12 July 2019, the CNMC found that the main milk producers had entered into anticompetitive information exchanges (at the national and regional level) on raw cow milk purchase prices and volumes purchased from farmers and milk suppliers.
Altogether, the fines amount to €80.6 million. The said (...)

The European Commission has issued guidelines for national courts on how to estimate the passing-on of overcharges to indirect purchasers of goods and services affected by infringements of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. The guidelines have been issued pursuant to Article 16 of the Antitrust Damages (...)

Under the constitutionally decentralized administrative law system in Spain, some Spanish regions have assumed competition enforcement powers regarding conduct which scope is limited to their respective territories. The Catalan Competition Authority (ACCO) has declared that the Association of (...)

On 12 August 2016 Canon notified the European Commission (EC) the acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (TMSC), a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba. The EC authorized the transaction on 19 September 2016. The acquisition was structured with a view to dodging the associated merger (...)

The European Commission has announced that it has opened an investigation against Broadcom in connection with various practices such as between Broadcom products and other products.
The case follows precedents in the microchips market, particularly echoing the investigation against Intel which (...)

The NMCC has fined Endesa Energía XXI €5.5 million, for using the electricity bills as a tool to promote services of other group companies.
In the past, the electricity market in Spain was fully regulated, and all prices were set by the Government. However, in the late 90s the sector was (...)

The CNMC has requested a preliminary ruling from the CJEU on the legality of the proposed stevedoring framework agreement, within the context of the ongoing investigation launched by the said Authority in November 2017 (file S/DC/0619/17, Acuerdo Marco de la Estiba). The move is remarkable, (...)

The NMCC has declared that the association ANELE and all the publishers under investigation have breached Article 1 SCA and Article 101 TFEU, in relation to (i) the adoption and implementation of ANELE’S Code of Conduct (CoC), which restricted promotional activities; and (ii) digital books, due (...)

The NMCC has fined the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SGAE) €2.95 million for abusing its dominant position in the management and exploitation of intellectual property rights of authors and publishers of musical and audiovisual works (Articles 2 SCA and 102 TFEU). The (...)

In 2015, the NMCC imposed two fines on Repsol S.A. (Repsol), the parent company of the energy group, amounting to €20 and €22.5 million for coordinating prices through exchanges of information with competitors and for fixing of fuel prices at service stations, respectively.
Repsol appealed the (...)

The Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (NMCC) has fined Spain’s main tobacco manufacturers, Philip Morris, Altadis, JT International Iberia, as well as wholesaler Logista for an anticompetitive exchange of strategic information. Logista facilitated immediate access to its daily (...)

The Supreme Court has upheld the appeal lodged by UdER (Unión de Recuperación) against the Judgment of the High Court of 15 December 2017 (appeal number 15/2015), declaring the NMCC’s Decision of 6 November 2014, Recogida de Papel, file S/0430/12 (Decision) null and void. In the said Decision, (...)

“Shaping Competition Policy in the era of digitization”: The European Commission hosts a conference with academic and business leaders to address the challenges of digitization for competition policy.
On 17 January 2019, the European Commission hosted an experts conference to address the (...)

Update on damages claims in Spain - paper envelope cartel damages recovery.
Several rulings have been issued by Spanish lower courts shedding light on key aspects of antitrust damages claims, such as the treatment of evidence concerning the calculation of compensation for damages. Also the (...)

The NMCC has approved, subject to commitments, the merger of the three card payment service companies operating in Spain: Servired, Sistema 4B and Euro 6000, of which practically all banking entities present in Spain were shareholders. As a result of the operation, the Spanish card payment (...)

On 13 July 2017, the NMCC closed the Article 102 TFEU and Article 2 of the Spanish Competition Act (Competition Act) proceedings related to the supply of pharmaceutical marketing data to IMS Health (IMS) by means of a commitments decision.
The NMCC initiated the investigation, as a result of (...)

The NMCC has closed with commitments an investigation against Schweppes, S.A. related to restrictions of parallel trade.
The Coca-Cola group and Orangina Schweppes Holding B.V. (OSHBV) share the ownership of the Schweppes trademark in the EU. Coca-Cola owns the Schweppes trademark in the UK (...)

The NMCC has fined €1.74 million on Nokia Solutions and Networks Spain, S.L. (Nokia).
The NMCC considered that Nokia abused its dominant position by engaging in margin squeeze practices when the State owned railway manager Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) tendered the (...)

The government has issued an urgent Royal Decree-Law 9/2017 of 26 May (RDL) implementing Directive 2014/104/UE, of the European Parliament and the Council, of 26 November 2014 (Directive) into Spanish law. A Royal Decree-law is an instrument used by the government to legislate on matters that (...)

A First Instance Commercial Court dismisses the lawsuit filed against Blablacar for unfair competition stating that Blablacar is a platform that focuses exclusively on private transport and is therefore not subject to transportation regulations (Judgement of the Commercial Court of 2 February (...)

The acquisition (Transaction) of Quironsalud by Fresenius Helios had been initially notified to the European Commission, who referred the Transaction to the SCA under Article 9 of the EU Merger Regulation. On 22 December 2016, the SCA issued its phase I decision authorizing the Transaction (...)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules that the creation of the current SCA breached EU law (ECJ Judgment of 19 October 2016 (Case C-424/15)).
The ECJ has issued its ruling on a request by the Supreme Court regarding the compatibility of the SCA creation back in 2013, when Spain integrated (...)

The Supreme Court (SC) has partially confirmed the interpretation followed by the National High Court (NHC) over the last two years regarding the limit of 10% of the company’s turnover established under Article 63 (1) of the Spanish Competition Act (SCA) for the calculation of fines.
In its (...)

On 24 August 2012 the Cabinet, using the powers granted to that end by the 2007 Competition Act, has decided to soften the conditions included in the NCC Decision. The Cabinet has acted using as legal basis Article 60 of the Competition Act, which enables the Government (the Cabinet) to amend (...)

Following a second phase in-depth investigation, the Spanish NCC concluded that the operation could give rise to significant competition issues in several audiovisual markets in Spain, specially the television advertising market, due to the Antena 3‘s increased market power and the enhanced (...)

Last 14 July 2012 the Spanish Government passed an urgent Royal Decree Law by means of which some of the rules related to price reductions included in the Retail Trade Act (Law 7/1996) are amended. On this regard, the new Royal Decree Law, which comes into force on September 1st 2012, (...)

This is an interesting case and we are reporting it based on the publicly available (press) information. The merger Decision on the case is not public.
Verifone Systems, Inc is a global leader in secure electronic payment solutions, and Hypercom Corporation, a high security electronic payment (...)

The NCC has recently published a study on the relationships between manufacturers and distributors in the food sector (Study). The 160 page long Study, provides an interesting perspective on issues related to buyer power in Spain which have caused quite a few problems in the last few years. (...)

The NCC attempts to provide guidelines on which merger cases are suitable for reduced form notification. There are a number of statements where the NCC does nothing other than remind its usual practice and/or its statutory powers. The NCC also (informally and without providing (...)

NCC has imposed a heavy fine for conduct by members of inspected company Transmediterranea allegedly obstructing a surprise inspection at company premises. Although it is not the first time the NCC fines a company for obstruction in the framework of dawn raids, the facts of this case look (...)

The merger consisting of the acquisition by EBRO FOODS, S.A. (EBRO) of DEOLEO, S.A. (DEOLEO) – formerly SOS COPRPORACION ALIMENTARIA, S.A. (SOS) - rice business assets leads to the concentration of the two main operators in transformation and wholesale rice, for its commercialization with (...)

On 2 December 2009 the Investigation Direction of NCC opened a formal proceeding against Gas Natural due to possible anticompetitive practices consisting of hindering access to the natural gas supply market by refusing to process suppliers’ change requests made trough sound recordings. The (...)

On 30 June 2011 the NCC has decided to close a formal proceeding opened ex officio against Corporación Vocento S.A.U. and Vocento, S.A. (VOCENTO) and Publipress Media, S.L.U. and Grupo Godó de Comunicaciones S.A. (GODÓ) for possible restrictive practices under Article 1 SCA. The practices (...)

The European Court of Justice has issued a Judgement (Decision of 14 June 2011, Pfleiderer, Case C-360/09) on a preliminary ruling from a national court, on a key matter regarding antitrust damages claims.
The situation encountered by the national court, in essence, referred to a petition by a (...)

On October 2008, the NCC received a complaint from the National Association of Canned Fish and Seafood Manufacturers (ANFACO) against various organizations of mussel producers in Galicia. As a result of the investigation, the NCC opened formal proceedings against the mussel (...)

The merger of Redsys Servicios de Procesamiento (RESDYS) and Redes y Procesos (REDY), two payment processing companies was notified to the NCC on 16 August 2010. The NCC decided on October 2010 to open phase 2 proceedings because it took the view that the operation could hinder the (...)

The commitments finally presented by AISGE redesign the calculation of the tariffs to reflect effective use of its repertoire and have been considered adequate to resolve the anti-competitive effects of the conduct of AISGE; AISGE was under investigation in relation to unfair and discriminatory (...)

Mediapro holds the broadcasting rights for the Spanish first division league (Liga) and King’s Cup (Copa de S.M. el Rey) for 2009/2010 and subsequent seasons. Therefore Mediapro has a dominant position in the market for the resale of broadcasting rights. Furthermore, Mediapro is (...)

A new Media Act has entered into force in Spain earlier this year.
The preamble to the Media Act notices how the media sector has evolved, particularly due to the introduction of digital technology and the end of the limited spectrum paradigm. The preceding media law was hitherto contained in (...)

This note provides a summary of the immunity/leniency regime rules in Spain. These rules are contained in the regulation (Implementing Regulation) implementing Law 15/2007, of 3 July 2007, on Competition (Competition Act), which entered into force in Spain in September 2007. The Implementing (...)

Football is an important matter in Spain. Such importance is currently being illustrated by the mediatic and legal warfare between two media groups, Sogecable and Mediapro, which are fighting over the football league’s broadcasting rights. Each weekend, since the professional league season (...)

On the 16 November 2006, the Spanish telecommunications regulator ("Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones", CMT) fined the incumbent Telefónica € 20 M for failing to comply with the conditions for access to the subscriber loop applying to third party operators in connection with the (...)

On 26 September 2006 the European Commission (Commission) ruled against the decision of the Spanish energy regulator (Comisión Nacional de la Energía or CNE) granting clearance to E.ON’s takeover bid for Endesa subject to a number of conditions, on the grounds of a breach of Article 21 of Council (...)